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BDES2027 Studio2b Nungalinya College Project Fei Liu SID 500007680 Tutor: Richard Briggs
OVERVIEW MASTERPLAN SITE PHYSICAL M
MASTERPLAN 17
PRIMARY PRINCIPLES SECONDARY PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLES 11
BACKGROUND RESEARCH 1
CONTENT I
HISTORY CLIENT SITE PLAN
OPEN-AIR SPACE SMALL SHELTER LANDSCAPUNG
COMMUNAL SPACE 43
SITE CIRCULATION VERANDA IDEA SELF-WALK PAVEMENT CENTRAL CORRIDOR
CIRCULATION 37
SINGLE MODULE 25
MODEL
STRATEGIES STUDENT MODULE TEACHER MODULE CONSTRUCTION SECTION MODULE PHYSICAL MODEL
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PREFACE
“Tanah Merah karamaneh Cabrera karna Minako”, one of Djawut Gondarra’s favorite scriptures from Psalma27, means “the Lord is my light and my salvation”. Many indigenous students like Djawut, from different communities far away from Darwin, have had a journey to Nungalinya College for different purposes, in different approaches and with different results. “Let every voice to be heard”, is the essential goal of this project, shaping and advancing the world in a better way through architecture. The process of this project is also the process of my self-salvation, as a way to understand the world and be a caring designer. Located at Casuarina, a suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory, Nungalinya College is a Combined Churches Training College for adult indigenous Australians. A request from the college has been made for more student and teacher accommodations, outside communal spaces and related facilities. Clients group of this project are 18 students, and 6 staff each with 2 family members, A total of 36 people would have access to the new accommodations. New design should respond to tropical climate in Darwin, in other words especially are wet and dry seasons, and cyclonical weathers. Awareness of acknowledgement and protection to indigenous cultures should be applied, in order to explore future social and cultural developments and avoid the same mistakes. Five primary principles, coming from researches of indigenous culture in present context, aim at providing comfortable, environmental-friendly and culturally sustainable living environment. They are: design by undesign; focus on personal identity; indigenous culture in present context; employ natural advantages; start from a bigger picture. My project would be explained in the sequence of background research, principles, masterplan, single module, circulation and communal space.
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BACKGROUND RESEARCH
When the first time I traveled to Australia ten years ago, I was attracted by spectacular beaches and sea, splendid theaters and museums, and also iconic and mysterious indigenous art that I could not understand at that time. Ten years after, while doing this project, I sincerely pray that it should be an icon for itself and not just an icon forever. Therefore, I hope have a peak at indigenous culture from this project. This session, background research, includes the history of Nungalinya College, client group introduction and physical context analysis. Essential principles for my design shown in later are based on the research and you can find inter-connections among them as well. On the page 3 and 4, a collage, as miniature of history
of Nungalinya College and larger context, shows stories from colonization to the present. Since I would like “show rather than explain”, readers can freely zoom in to explore more details and narratives behind. Although client page concludes basic information of users of our design, this may vary in reality and thus I would like to treat it as minimum requirement or baseline. Site map, reflecting the discussion with college president Ben Gelderen and architect of new units Matt Elkan, focuses on physical context and intimate surroundings, in order to experience the site from first perspective and find reference for my design as well.
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Client Page Teacher: 1. 6 teachers with 2 relatives each. In total there are 18 people. Most of them are aboriginal people. 2. Various types of relatives, like a partner and a kid, parents and siblings. 3. “Brother and sister” and community. Teachers would like to talk to students and together organize activities. 4. There is a teacher and his/her partner would live together. More private space would be prepared for them.
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Student 1. There are 18 adult students in total. Approximately 80% are female and 20% are male. 2. Students are required to finish 50% of work in their own community. 3. Students come from over 100 communities and cover 15 languages. They should have freedom and right to express their own journey and identity. 4. Different students go to campus 2-4 weeks periodically. It means population exchange on our site is frequent. 5. Students are above 18. Some of them have medical conditions (chronical disease, obesity and disability). 6. Future benefits. Personal meditation, self-knowing, self-acknowledgement; leadership to better their communities (a point to a plane); employment on the campus or back to community; potential investment, real aboriginal school
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Urban Context Map “Knowing the present and history of a place before knowing its future”. After showing larger urban context in last page, this map focuses on campus itself and intimidate context. On the upper left corner in blue dash line, I circle out our site and roof plan of my design. Blue numbers from 1 to 13 are align with hand-drawings on the next page, in order to understand present natural, cultural and social environment on the site. Those images set basic tone of the campus and inspire my design. 8
(1) Small version of old man rock. As a totem and symbol of this land, it is the origin of word “Nungalinya” supplied by Larrakia elders.
(2) Entrance. Behind trees and bushes, the entrance remains natural and unpolished, giving a hint of basic tone and atmosphere of the whole campus.
(3) Gathering places behind each module. Public space construction can be really simple, with several chairs and a boundary on the ground differentiated by materials. Paving with different materials. It creates visual boundary while protecting buildings partly from flooding in wet seasons.
(7) Self-plantation area. People on (8) Drying clothes outside. There are campus can grow plants they like and no laundry rooms and maybe no need simultaneously gain good memory, as yet. a way to foster the sense of belonging.
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(9) Mango tree. Big trees are natural gathering places in indigenous culture, so does the mango tree here. This reflects the belief of “human is equal to all creatures”.
(4) Existing house. 2 people per room; (5) Interior. Indigenous people usually (6) Central decking. With kitchenet 4 rooms per unit; ramp for the disable; don’t have habits to use table and dining are, it is a place for peoelevated; central decking as public space ple to gather. There is a door leading to the back of the house, in order to avoid unpleasant and inappropriate encounter.
(10) Garden in construction. With little pound and well-plant vegetations, this garden is a well-built area compared to rest places. This is a hint of turning totally natural to semi-natural, as an inevitable change in contemporary context.
(11) Hostel and the cross. Close to the (12) Dining hall. It provides breakfast, community center of the college, this morning tea, lunch and dinner. place indicates more religious meanings. Two stories buildings are not mostly welcomed by residents because of inconvenience.
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PRINCIPLES
I have concluded five primary principles and several secondary principles. There is an icon for each primary principle and will appear in later session to align my design with those principles. Secondary principles help readers to understand the essential issues from collisions of different cultures and shift in social environment.
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5 Primary Principles 1. Design by undesign
2. Personal identity, “let every voice be heard”
3. Indigenous culture in present context
4. Maximize natural advantages and avoid the disadvantages
5. Start from a bigger picture 13
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Ecosystem
Biophilic design
flora and fauna
Nature Physical world
(1)
Passive design
energy self-sufficient, recycle and reuse, decentralisation, energy efficiency
Vernacular house
Human comfort
Structure and material
orientation, ventilation, temperature, organic environment
topology/climate/weather
Unique value system
Sustainablity
(2)
Unique relation to the land
land as a part of human instead of our property
Nomadic life
people go across large area, like the journey people come to the college
vary among different groups, unpredicatable for our client group
Social relations
organic material that are coherent with the climate; environmental senstive
Occupation on land (3)
Kinship (5)
Culture
principle and prototype
spatial division and social accretion; cluster and sub-cluster
Treatment to land (4) keep the site natural and unchanged
Avoidance rules (7)
Gender separation (6)
vary among different groups, but necessary on our site
Tribes
Close community (7)
rules are dynamic under different cultural and social context
people that would never meet each other encounter on our site
Intimacy gradient
Client
Flexiblity
relation with existing campus and larger context; physical, cultural and social
Space teacher and student; age; personal identity; medical condition
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(8)
Surrounding context
so-called privacy level, depends on layers of space
(9)
satisfy various demands from different groups of people
Communal and private area relations between single houses, circulation and communal space
Modular design
in scope of funiture, structure, room, layout and space
Secondary Principles
(1)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
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MASTERPLAN
Our project, located at the northwestern corner of the college, designs new accommodation for 18 students and 6 teachers each with 2 relatives, in total 36 people. Masterplan shows layout of modules based on principles in former session and gives readers an overview impression. This session is also a guideline for later three sessions, which are single module, circulation and communal space.
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Bird-eye view of the new
accommodation. This image shows the spatial relation of my design, including buildings, circulation and open space (mainly as communal space). Since this image shows more an atmosphere and materiality, through an artistic approach, this image excludes neighboring buildings at the back and accurate landscaping design. 20
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Building blocks.
Teacher
Student
circulation connects each module and goes through the whole site, together with existing site forming threshold, i.e. changes in space layers
communal space use concept of “negative and positive spaces are not separatable”. In other words, under appropriate arrangement and guide, all negative spaces other than building blocks (positive space) can be communal space.
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Physical Layout Model 24
Teacher and student module, different on plan, share the same strategies. Plan and section both reflect principles mentioned before and structure.
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SINGLE MODULE
Common Strategies Setting back. Layers of space, in other words the intimacy gradient, can be created by setting back modules and also rotating them at certain angles. Especially at the back of the modules, more private gardens are created and related to self-plantation idea in the later session of landscaping.
Linear connection among modules. Following the detour principle, veranda builds up connection between neighboring modules while still keeping certain buffer zones in between and multiple entrances to get off the veranda.
Detour and multiple entrances. Based on the avoidance rule, multiple entrances give more options to enter a room. This strategy has been applied to both student and teacher modules, in order to avoid unpleasant encounter. This design also connects the front and the back of a room, as a bridge between public and private spaces.
Cluster and sub-cluster. Like modular design, the smallest unit is 2 people, then following hierarchy is 2+2, (2+2)+ (2+2),[(2+2)+(2+2)]+[(2+2 )+(2+2)], etc; or 2+1 people, then (2+1)+(2+1), etc.
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Relative groups. There are different combinations of the two relatives, like a partner and a kid, two parents and two siblings. This wide range of relatives requires that dimension of facility and room should be all-age friendly.
Veranda and multiple functions. Servant and served spaces sharing one place both increases flexibility and efficiency of space and caters aboriginal people’s daily habits.
Separation and connection between teacher and student. Separation is based on avoidance rule that gives more private space for teachers’ relatives, reflected on the layout. Connection comes from indigenous culture in present context, which is “family” and “brother and sister” in Catholicism, achieved by circulation.
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Veranda and multiple function 2. With kitchen outside, it is convenient to evacuate smoke and delivery food to dining area which is the veranda.
Ventilation. Expect high roof, high window and the shape of window, openings on the floor can introduce wind and keep material dry in wet seasons.
Interior. Drawers and containers underneath bed and chair can provide sufficient storage space. Hanging clothes outside prevent mold and fungi in wet seasons and also eliminates the feeling of boxy and crowded from chunky closets.
Innovative windows. There are three operatable parts. With awning window opening by counterweight, people can sit underneath and have a good view to outside. The second part provides ventilation in night and rainy days while guaranteeing safety. It is convenient to grab stuff from containers under bed from the third part.
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Student Module
1. ramp and staircase 2. decking in front and back, public and private space 3. efficient toilet, shower rather than bath 4. every 4 people share one outside kitchen, electric cooktop with four stoves, a sink, microwave and storage space 5. doors connect front and back decking 29
1 : 100
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Teacher Module
1. sliding door, adjust privacy and prevent rain and wind 2. 2+1, a suite for three people (family), no influence on teacher’s daily schedule; 1, a single room for teacher if there are no relatives 3. window number and size can fast ventilation, follow the rule of “output>input”. 4. efficient toilet layout, shower than bath 5. small kitchenet at the gap between two modules, under cover of the edge of roof, electric cooktop with two stoves, a sink, and storage space 31
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Section 1:50
10 multi-functional windows with different open ways, satisfy ventilation during different time periods, sitting, storage and safety
11 extra storage space, underneath bed and sofa, decrease barriers in space above 400mm 12 non mechanism ventilation, ventialtion holes on the ground 13 openings connected to the house are sealed with fly screen 14 back and front veranda with different purposes, to adjust privacy level 15 gardening on the back to improve employment and focus on personal experience and identity in campus
16 bushes + trees, i.e. physical barrier and division + shading, native plant speciecs
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01 reinforced concr timber structure in c
rete footing to stabilize the cyclonial weather
09 high ceiling to accelerate air flow and decrease humidity in wet season 08 extended round roof sheet to prevent sunlight at a high angle 07 high windows with fixed batten for ventilation, orientation and density of the battens prevent horizonal rain 06 extral protection on eaves of veranda to defend upwards lift 05 reinforced and continious joints from roof to footings to to transfer external forces underground, especially in cyclonial weather
04 localized material that guarantees cultural and environmental-friendly
03 ‘modular structure’, with only dimension of 100*100 and 50*100 to save material and provide high convinent installation
02 steel bracket to join footing and timber structure above, also prevent effect of flooding and termite on material
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Module ModelUsing one teach-
er module as typical example, I built the model following construction order, in order to understand the difference between normal structure and modular structure. The modular structure here also follows the structure hierarchy (systems of foundation, floor, wall and roof). The difference is to use timber only in dimension of 100*100, 100*50, 50*50 cm and their combinations. This can both keep consistency of the whole structure like the joint part and save material use. Since the structure is depended on the quality and specie of tree, the use of specific species of local trees like eucalyptus should be consider. Moreover, in order to be cyclonically resistant, the whole structure should be stabilized from top directly to the bottom, including extra reinforced joints.
Model 1:50 and Interior
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Renderings and photos here show interior from first perspective. The design for the whole building from outside to inside should be natural and environmental-friendly.
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Since my project follows “design by undesign”, less plays more and every piece of design considers more about the result after chain reaction from shift of social environment, rather than its present achievements. Circulation in my design not only represents spatial quality, but also has more layers of potential social and cultural meanings.
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CIRCULATION
Site
Circulation
Zooming out to see bigger picture can help understand people’s daily routines on the site and how our site is connected with the whole campus by demographics. Those blue dash lines following timeline are also presentation of invisible dynamic threshold created by human action. Thus, layers of space along the threshold should focus on the transition of private to public space.
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Veranda
Veranda in front of each module has been connected that strengthens the relation between neighbors and even further residents. This connection can also guarantee public activities during rainy days under cover. Ramps and staircases provide options to get off the veranda and enter the communal space in the middle. 39
Self-walk roads Since
the project should be continuously developed overtime and leave space for changes, the secondary paving system is not constructed at this stage. “Let users decide” inspires me to construct pavement following trajectories from the most-often walked area.
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3. Centeral corriador 41
Central Corridor
Beside connecting teacher and student modules, central corridor plays a significant role in expressing different cultural values and personal identities. It is an open-air exhibition gallery as well, with artwork hanging in between framework showing on the left image. From the two images on the right bottom, you can see: firstly, the metal sheet roof has been carved with patterns from indigenous narrative; at the edge of the corridor, certain cultural pattern is presented with different materials, like mulch in various colors and gravel. 42
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COMMUNAL SPACE
Rather than construct the rest space other than houses in a “civilized” way in our mind, respecting and accepting the original appearance of nature more caters to aboriginal people’s belief. My design on communal space, firstly on landscaping, is to protect and maintain local vegetation, and lately introduce human activities in a harmonious way.
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Open-air space. there are
three areas to be considered. Since the first and second area are surrounded by modules, their development potentials are lower, which means they should be more accomplished. Ignoring the boundary of our site, the third part is unconstructed area in the middle of bookshop, chapel and ausil house. It should be built as a more public communal space for the whole campus. It means the strategy applied to it now should be building relocatable facility rather than fixed structure.
Small shelters can provide extra outside resting spots and increase usage rate of outside area during dry seasons. According to structure efficiency, tensile structure can be easily applied, because highly dense trees can be the essential element mast.
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Landscaping Aboriginal people share a special relation with the land and also trees on it. Regarding themselves equal to all creature and a part of the nature, aboriginal people respect each single tree and treat them unshakable and not as a property. In other words, main strategy for landscaping should be remain and protect trees on site and plant local species. Our job is arranging existing trees and recover pre-human environment, rather than selecting and well-design the blank area.
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Keep everything natural.
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“Tree pavilion”: High density of trees, with leaf canopy, provide shade like what roofs usually do. Tree trunks are like columns that can allow people to walk underneath. In other words, with trees and buildings sharing a same base, construction of communal space is more like build a more natural, flexible and open house through untraditional materials
Layers of vegetation: gradient of vegetation can create visual boundary, form aesthetic scenery view, and adjust privacy levels
Self-planation idea: there is a pod behind each module, mainly used for planting according to needs. Vegetables or flowers with short growth period will be plant, in order to increase memory spots on site. This can also potentially bring employment while the pod requires maintenance during holiday period. 50
